Chapter 191: Attack on the Colony I
On the way, Nichol wore a silent, brooding expression. Tolle thought for a moment — maybe he should stir up something big, maybe even get this guy to defect.
Halfway down the corridor, Tolle suddenly grabbed Nichol by the back and pulled him into a room. Seeing Nichol's uneasy expression, he said, "You've got guts, saying things like that in front of Lady Une when she's not even in uniform. Aren't you afraid she'll make your life miserable later, get back at you when she's in uniform again?"
"Lieutenant Colonel, she wouldn't do that."
Tolle deliberately tried to rattle him. "Pretty confident, huh? If you really want to support Lady Une, would you dare to serve under her alone? Would you dare to ignore the Romefeller Foundation's orders for her sake — even betray them if you had to?"
Nichol looked shocked and whispered, "Keep your voice down! You can't just say stuff like that. Do you know something?"
Tolle gave him a disdainful look. "You think I don't know what's going on with you? Judging by your reaction earlier, someone from the Romefeller Foundation must have come to see you — probably ordered you to monitor Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une's actions, didn't they?"
When Nichol fell silent, Tolle took the chance to pat him hard on the back and went on, "Anyway, I've got a bad feeling about this.
If Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une ends up turning against the Romefeller Foundation, who are we going to back — her, or them?"
"That kind of thing won't happen."
"I said if. Hypothetically, all right? Just imagine for a second. There's no one else around to hear you."
Nichol thought for a while, his face growing grave. "Then… I'd support Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une."
"Good. That's all I needed to hear. Come on, let's head to the command room — we'll help take some pressure off her."
Nichol nodded, and the two of them walked together toward the command center.
"Joint Space Force base, Zone A — MD units have begun engaging," a soldier reported to Tolle the moment they arrived.
Nichol immediately asked the radar operator, "How long until we're within the Balge Beam Cannon's effective range?"
"Six hundred seconds."
Tolle asked, "What kind of damage can the beam cannon do to the Joint Space Force's colony satellite? Can it precisely target and destroy their power systems or control facilities?"
Nichol replied, "Yeah. One shot would shut it down completely."
Trowa, standing nearby, interjected, "I heard there are civilians inside the Joint Space Force's colony satellite — not just soldiers."
Hearing Trowa object to the beam cannon strike, Nichol's tone turned sharp. "Those are soldiers' families.
Anyone inside a military fortress automatically becomes a target. They should understand that much."
"Does Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une know about this?" Tolle asked. "Is this order from Duke Dermail? To wipe them all out along with the traitor Zechs who betrayed OZ?"
Tolle had just talked to this guy about possibly defying the Romefeller Foundation for Lady Une — and now here he was, ready to obey Dermail's orders to the letter.
He looked at Nichol and pressed, "Warrant Officer Nichol, you don't have the authority to override Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une's command. Do you realize where this puts her? You're betraying the trust she placed in you.
Use your head — you know she'd never approve of this.
As your superior officer, I'm ordering that the MD units move out for the initial assault. Mercurius and Vayeate — get ready. Trowa, you'll pilot the Vayeate; I'll take Mercurius."
Trowa immediately understood that the beam cannon order hadn't been authorized by Lady Une, and since Tolle planned to sortie with him, he turned to head for the hangar right away.
But before he'd taken more than a few steps, Nichol stopped him. "Trowa, wait. I'm forbidding you from entering any MS cockpit. Whether you're friend or foe, I can't trust a traitor."
"So this is something Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une doesn't know about, huh?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une has already gone out to fight the Joint Space Forces. She's entrusted full command to me and Darks." Nichol lied without hesitation, then barked to the soldiers around them, "Someone, take him away and lock him up!"
Tolle kept his back to Trowa, silent. He couldn't intervene too obviously — it would blow his cover.
As the saying goes, "Better him than me." Besides, he'd nearly forgotten to keep Trowa as a backup plan. If Nichol, that double-dealer, actually fired the beam cannon, things could go south fast. So yeah, it was better for Trowa to sit tight in a cell for now.
Trowa, still trying to explain himself, said, "As a soldier of OZ, I have no intention of overstepping authority. But if we're not deploying Mercurius and Vayeate to serve as Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une's escort unit, I have serious doubts about this operation."
Nichol, irritated that Trowa had exposed his lie, sneered, "A soldier doesn't need to think so much. Leave peace and justice to the higher-ups — our job is to win. Nothing else matters.
Take him away."
As soon as Trowa was taken below, Tolle received a message from a few of Lady Une's attendants: "Lieutenant Colonel Darks! Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une didn't change into her uniform — she just ran out alone. She's piloting a Taurus! We couldn't stop her!"
Nichol looked even more alarmed than Tolle. The moment he heard that she'd gone out without her uniform, he panicked. "Send someone to stop her immediately! Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une will be in danger without her uniform!"
Tolle sighed helplessly. Saint Lady Une — always unpredictable. Her saintly persona really was a ticking time bomb, and it just went off.
He turned to Nichol and ordered, "Warrant Officer Nichol, I'm leaving the Balge fortress to you. I'll go protect Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une. Until you receive orders from me or her, you are not to fire the fortress's beam cannon.
If you hit me or Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une by accident, I guarantee that when either of us returns, you'll wish you hadn't."
Nichol's face was full of worry. "Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. Please take care of her. I promise I won't fire until you both return safely."
"Good. Stop looking like you're about to die — I'm off to pilot Mercurius." With that, Tolle dashed off toward the hangar.
In space, waves of OZ's unmanned Taurus suits swarmed toward the Joint Space Force's colony satellite.
They began by sweeping the area around the colony, clearing out minefields and eliminating obstacles to open a path for attack.
The mines posed no real threat to the Taurus units — within minutes, they were all cleared away.
Seeing the situation worsen, the Joint Space Force quickly launched a large number of space-type Leos to counterattack the MD units.